Tackling The Myth of Gay Affluence - March 20

TNG reader Amanda brings us this post about an event on Capitol Hill, March 20 at 10am.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law will unveil a first-of-its-kind analysis of poverty among lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans at a briefing for members of Congress, staff and media on Friday, March 20, at 10:00 a.m. in Room HC-8 in the United States Capitol. The briefing will be hosted by the LGBT Equality Caucus.

Because the U.S. Census Bureau does not explicitly ask questions about sexual orientation, LGB families have been invisible in poverty statistics. This first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay and bisexual population reveals that LGB adults and families are as likely - and, in the case of some subgroups, more likely - to be poor than their heterosexual counterparts, contrary to the popular myth of gay and lesbian affluence.

Authors of the study - entitled Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community - will provide a comprehensive review of their findings, including a discussion of the social and political factors that may lead to higher rates of LGB poverty, including vulnerability to employment discrimination, inability to marry and higher numbers of uninsured.

Event details beyond the fold.

What: Williams Institute/Equality Caucus Congressional Briefing: Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community

Who: Randy Albelda, Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston; M.V. Lee Badgett, Research Director, The Williams Institute

When: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., Friday, March 20, 2009

Where: U.S. Capitol - HC-8

The Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy advances law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates its work through a variety of education programs and media to judges, legislators, lawyers, other policy makers and the public.